"pascal Roge" Satie Gymnopedies

With the present disc, Pascal Rophé and his Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire pay tribute to their great countryman, Claude Debussy – but not with the standard orchestral fare. Debussy Orchestrated paints a portrait of a light-hearted composer, seen through the eyes of two of his collaborators, Henri Büsser and André Caplet, who transferred the works recorded here from the keyboard to the orchestra. In Petite Suite, composed for piano four hands in 1899, Debussy makes allusions to Fêtes galantes by Paul Verlaine, the poet who so often inspired him.

With his partner and friend, the excellent guitarist Pascal Polidori (their duo has been together for over 30 years!), Philippe Depetris, who is not only one of France's finest flautists, but also a beautiful person, a man who is attentive to everyone he meets, takes us on a trip to Argentina with some sentimental milongas and other delicately quivering melodies. There are no backstrokes, just sonorous caresses and the heady scent of the narrow streets of the port of Buenos Aires, the district of colourful houses in La Bocca where tango was born at the end of the 19th century. Both also offer a bouquet of tender or voluptuous melodies, inspired by the Mediterranean, its colours, its dreams, its infinite nuances, that sense of time that passes and doesn't pass and yet carries us away. And it is, in every sense of the word, a delight.

“C’est grand comme le monde” (It is as great as the world): Liszt’s remark, originally in French, is often quoted erroneously as referring to Handel, though in fact it was about the opening of Handel’s Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest ; in its misuse, however, it might equally apply to Liszt himself. He had everything going for him: seductive beauty, acute intelligence, supreme virtuosity, vast culture, a keen feeling for art and its future. As Valérie Boissier, one of his pupils, rightly said: “Nature created him in an outpouring of magnificence”. The composer of the Hungarian Rhapsodies was indeed one of those “beacons” so close to Baudelaire’s heart who light up both their own age and the centuries to come.

Great works of art outstrip their creator. Infused with substance unsuspected at their inception, they elicit intellectual and emotional perceptions in successive generations, gradually becoming a touchstone. Operating into the present, they pose real questions. Journeying through time, they abolish time and continue to resonate, fully and validly, in a world inconceivable at the time of their creation.

Spanning over a period of about 10 years (2013-2023), this collection of short pieces started as sketches, demos, ideas recorded for later. Some of them were presented to Miriodor (the band I’m a member/founder of), but did not develop.

The Song of the Earth is Gustav Mahler's most personal composition, as the composer himself revealed. It takes on all it's twilight hues with Stéphane Degout's vocal performance. Ardently conducted by Maxime Pascal, Le Balcon delivers a performance which sets the standard, using Arnold Schönberg's pared-down transcription in the royal acoustic setting of the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Le Balcon and the Saint-Denis Festival have a long history, which began in 2014 with a recital by the soprano Julie Fuchs in the Music Pavilion of the Maison Education de la Légion d'honneur.

“C’est grand comme le monde” (It is as great as the world): Liszt’s remark, originally in French, is often quoted erroneously as referring to Handel, though in fact it was about the opening of Handel’s Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest ; in its misuse, however, it might equally apply to Liszt himself. He had everything going for him: seductive beauty, acute intelligence, supreme virtuosity, vast culture, a keen feeling for art and its future. As Valérie Boissier, one of his pupils, rightly said: “Nature created him in an outpouring of magnificence”. The composer of the Hungarian Rhapsodies was indeed one of those “beacons” so close to Baudelaire’s heart who light up both their own age and the centuries to come.

Decca Classics is opening up its rich catalogue of legendary piano recordings to some of the world’s foremost electronic producers for a new album entitled ‘Re:works Piano’. The 12-track release, which features remixes by Cagedbaby, Soul Mekanik and Dusty Kid, is due out on 18 August on Decca Records.

It was a significant step: the decision of the French composer Erik Satie, in 1884, to write his first name henceforth with a “k”. He was born on 17 May 1866 as Eric Satie in Normandy’s Honfleur, from where England lies almost in view. His mother, born in London, had English and Scottish blood. And in his work and in his personage, irony, understatement, and British-sounding humour are never far away. Despite an unmistakably French sound in his music, he did not regard himself as a musicien français, as his friend Debussy styled himself on his card.

May 17th 2016 sees Erik Satie's 150th anniversary and ECHO-Klassik Award winning pianist Olga Scheps presents the only new studio recording of his most beautiful piano solo works for the Satie celebrations 2016.